Page 111 of Best Man Speaking

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her that she’s perfect, but it’s just a little too lame. “I’m glad you approve.”

She looks a little apprehensive as she asks, “How long have you been putting this together?”

I decide to put all my cards on the table, alongside my plans. “I’d always had ideas about what I would’ve done if it were mine. I’d always understood what the potential for the bones of the house was. Driving past it every now and again, I’d see it and would tuck another idea away.”

Hallie nods, understanding.

“And what now?”

The house is legally mine, my money hers.

“Now I make amends,” I say, pulling the folded papers from my back pocket. I put them on the table facing her. “I spoke to my lawyers as soon as you accepted the offer. This paperwork states that as soon as the house is approved in my name, the process will begin to transfer ownership back to you. Technically, I’ll be gifting you the property, and I’ll be changing the name on the deed from mine to yours. There’s a few tax implications, and I’m sure my lawyer thinks I’ve lost my mind, but I want you to have it all.”

Hallie’s face pales, her eyes flying down to the paperwork. She picks up the sheet outlining the process and the time frame for the request I’ve made. The page flutters back down to the counter.

“You’re…you can’t do that.”

“I can. It’s a gift.”

And it is, plain and simple.

“I know what it cost. What you paid. It’s too much,” she persists, as if I don’t already know all I’ve put on the line. As if she isn’t worth it all.

I shrug. “It’s money. I’ll make more.”

“No.” She sucks in a harsh breath, head shaking, tears welling.

I hadn’t meant to make her cry.

“Hallie. I’m sorry I hurt you all those years ago. I’m sorry I said exactly what you needed to hear to make you leave. I thought I was doing the right thing then, but I want you to have every choice now.”

Hallie’s hands shake as she picks up the papers. She stacks them one on top of the other, and my chest explodes with possibility as she rips them in half and then quarters.

“No,” she explains, “I don’t want it to be like that between us.” Hallie reaches for my hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t try and fight for us, that I believed the worst of you so quickly back then. That I did it again after Vegas. I should’ve trusted my feelings for you, should’ve trusted the person I know you to be now. And what you said last night? It caught me by surprise, that’s all. It’s not that I didn’t want to hear it. I think I wanted it so much I scared myself.”

For once, Hallie seems steady before me, ready to choose fight instead of flight.

“When you told me on the plane that the way I felt about you would fit into three words, but they weren’t ‘I hate you,’ I knew you were right. You’re still right, but I’m not ready to say them yet. I am, however, ready to give us a chance. I want that with you. Those three words, this home. All of it.” She pauses, taking me in. “I hope that’s okay?”

The bubble of hope in my chest fills so fast and wide it pops. My girl’s still so brave.

“Of course it’s okay.” I pull one hand away to remove the red velvet box from my front pocket, adding it to the stack of plans before us. “Julian had me thinking you’d left without this.”

Hallie squeezes her hand onmine before reaching for the ring. “I would’ve come back for it.”

With a quick grin, I snatch the box away from her sticky fingers. “Technically, it’s still legally mine. I’ve decided we comeas a package deal. I know it was always meant to be yours, but you were always meant to be mine.”

Hallie looks at me, slightly aghast. “You better not be proposing.”

My chest is lighter than it’s been in days—weeks even—and I laugh, moving around the counter and pulling her into my arms. “I’mproposingthat we make this work, that you’ll let us work toward the real deal. Think of it as the promise before the proposal.”

She tilts her chin up to look at me.

“How about you keep the ring,” I say. “Hide it somewhere in our house, and when you’re ready, you put it back on my bedside table. I’ll take it from there.”

She looks excited by the prospect, and I hope it won’t take long before the small velvet box ends up back in my room. I’ll do my best to make it so.

Her lips quirk. “Why would I be hiding it inourhouse?”

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